Arson trial spawned by GM love affair gets heated in Oshawa

Melanie Bos Jim Hoy trial

Melanie Bos was a rising star in management at General Motors. Jim Hoy was a former top union leader at the car maker’s Oshawa plant. But their romance went up in flames when she was charged with setting his house on fire — with him in it.

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Seasoned defence lawyer Glen Orr had been peppering the Crown's star witnesswith questions about minute details of his past - where this happened, when that happened - and the witness was already tired of it.

Justice Bryan Shaughnessy aptly called a brief recess, but the back-and-forthbetween Hoy and Orr remained heated throughout the daylong grilling.

Hoy is testifying against his former fiance, Melanie Bos, who is on trial for arson and mischief stemming from a 2009 fire that broke out in his 150-year-old home while he was in bed. Bos has pleaded not guilty.

Hoy, 51, is a former union leader at General Motors' Oshawa plant. Bos, 45, was a rising star in GM management when she and Hoy began dating. Hoy has testified that Bos told him she was divorced in the early 2000s and that her husband died soon after they started dating.

As the defence launched into what will be a two-day challenge of Hoy's credibility, court learned that the witness was convicted in 1982 of assault and mischief stemming from an incident that took place when he was a teenager.

Hoy maintains that he was not guilty and says the incident took place when a group of guys showed up at a friend's party ready for a fight.

"You were really innocent, though you were convicted of assault?" Orr asked.

"That's correct," Hoy replied.

"You didn't assault anybody?" the lawyer persisted.

"That's correct."

Hoy said the mischief charge was for damage to the roof of a car that occurred when the driver tried to run him over.

"You flew up in the air and come down on the car or what?" Orr asked.

"Pretty much," Hoy said.

In 1988, court learned, Hoy was charged with mischief in an incident involving a dump truck. Hoy said a relative tried to hit him with the truck and a signal light was damaged in the process. The charge was dropped after a peace bond was signed.

In 2007, Hoy's vehicle was impounded after he drove it into a farmer's field and left it there overnight. Hoy said that he had swerved to miss a deer and left the scene because he had to get up early in the morning. No charges were laid in that incident.

"I suggest you were impaired, sir," Orr said.

"I suggest again that you are wrong," Hoy replied.

Defence also suggested that Hoy knew his fiance's husband was alive long before he said he did. Orr entered as evidence a cheque dated April 28, 2009, that had the names of both Bruce Bos and Melanie Bos on it. The cheque was signed by Hoy.

"This deceased man ... you never noticed his name was on the cheque?

"No I didn't," said Hoy, who has testified that he only found out about Bruce Bos after the fire.

Hoy and Melanie Bos worked together at GM beginning in the mid-1990s, but the pair only started dating in 2008, when he was no longer working at the plant, the former union leader testified. The couple purchased several investment properties together in 2009, according to Hoy.

Their relationship went up in smoke soon after Hoy's house was set on fire.

The fire, in the early hours of June 30, 2009, was lit inside a small hole in the wall when both Bos and Hoy were at home, hours after they finished cleaning up from another fire that mysteriously broke out in the garage.

Bos is not on trial for the first fire, but Hoy said in court that he believes she is responsible for both. The defence is arguing that Hoy set both fires because he needed the insurance money.

Hoy met with Bruce Bos at a Burger King in Bowmanville a week after the fire. Hoy said Bruce Bos told him that he (Hoy) and Melanie Bos were under investigation for an attempt on the jilted husband's life.

A day or two later - on July 9, 2009 - both men gave statements to police and Bos was charged with arson and mischief. No charges were ever laid in relation to an alleged attempt on the life of Bruce Bos.